LOVE ACTUALLY: one-upping Uncle Sam in the rom-com stakes

Ok, let's get the negatives out of the way first so we can have a grown-up conversation about this film.
I admit that LOVE ACTUALLY is undeniably sentimental and sugary. I could feel it chipping away at the enamel on my teeth and furring up the walls of my arteries. It's not the first rom-com to suggest that love is the answer and that all you need is love but it does so more nakedly and unashamedly than many of its predecessors.
It's nothing more than an implausible fairytale in modern garb where the men are more often than not the ones in distress and it's the damsels who ride to the rescue.

So, with these minuses duly noted and acknowledged I now want to make the case that LOVE ACTUALLY is a really good film. It's not a great film or a classic but it is a lot of fun. The two main reasons for this are writer-director Richard Curtis' genuinely funny script and the engaging performances from a veritable who's who of British acting talent circa 2003.
Among the stand-outs are Bill Nighy in a career boosting turn as an addled rock star making an unlikely chart comeback with a truly awful Yuletide song called "Christmas is all around us" (based on the almost as awful "Love is all around us"), Hugh Grant dithering magnificently (but keeping his fluttering eyelids in check) as the British Prime Minister, Colin Firth as the epitome of the too-nice-for-his-own-good English gent, and Liam Neeson as a newly widowed dad channeling his grief into supporting his young step-son's difficult encounter with first love. Honorable mentions go to Emma Thompson, Martin Freeman, Laura Linney, Andrew Lincoln and Alan Rickman and I could go on, there's really not a bad performance in the entire cast. Even Rowan Atkinson acquits himself well!
With a cast this big and numerous storylines to cover there's not a lot of time for depth so it's to the immense credit of the cast and Curtis's scriptwriting skills that in the short time we get to spend with each of the characters they get to feel like something approaching real people. It's true that we only get to see one aspect of their lives - their love-life - but it's done in such a way that we feel there's more to them than simply their issues with romance.
What makes LOVE ACTUALLY a determinedly British take on the romantic comedy genre - even more than the predominantly British cast and the fact that it's set in London - is the humour. The mix of sarcasm and self-deprecation is uniquely British and allows the male characters in particular to act like an idiot at times without becoming pathetic buffoons. I got a sense of Curtis - his focus fixed very firmly on the other side of the Atlantic - stating confidently "This is how WE make rom-coms, and our style is just as valid as yours!" If that's too subtle for you just look at his depiction of the American President (a cameo by Billy Bob Thornton) as a shifty, immoral bully, and the portrayal of beautiful young American women (those from Wisconsin anyway) as brainless bimbos eager to jump into bed at the first sound of an English accent no matter how ugly the owner. The sub-conscious message seems to be "we may be nitwits but at least we're not Americans."
Heartwarming, life-affirming and seriously funny in places I think LOVE ACTUALLY has the pedigree to become the British version of "It's a Wonderful Life" - the film without which an entire nation's Christmas celebrations aren't complete.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY: sadly lacking in the Yuletide cheer department

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY is a real Hollywood oddity and not in a good way. Despite the title there's nothing festive or heartwarming about this tale of a nightclub singer who's swept off her feet by a dashing and wealthy young man who turns out to be a wastrel of the worst kind.
What makes this such an odd drama is the casting. A young and decidedly lightweight Gene Kelly plays the dashing cad, while teen singing sensation Deanna Durbin makes her dramatic debut as the young woman he wrongs. Although CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY was her first serious acting part, the 22 year old Durbin was a Hollywood veteran, having starred in a series of musical vehicles dating back to 1936.
On the evidence of CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY she should have stuck to the warbling which made her famous. She gives a one-note performance which lacks depth and believability. Her movements look awkward and rehearsed, and her.limited emotional range is further stunted by a surfeit of facial puppy fat which severely restricts her ability to register any expression other than sullenness, topped off by an overly red pair of "trout-pout" lips.
Her unconvincing portrayal of a woman to whom horrible things are happening is matched by Robert Siodmak's lacklustre direction. Too often he pads the running time with long, pointless scene-setting shots which do nothing to advance the story.
An all-round disappointment CHRISTMAS STORY is really only worth watching as an example of how even the Hollywood studio system occasionally got it completely wrong.